Using 'Letter' paper with pdflatex

Question

Apparently, the LaTeX distribution and its associated classes and drivers, as well as files in one's Linux distribution can all affect the page size that is ultimately used for the output of dvipdf, pdflatex, etc. Whether one converts a .tex file to .pdf directly or through an intermediate .dvi and/or .ps file can also affect the page size of the final document. I have encountered a number of sources on the web describing this problem and potential solutions (e.g., (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)). There does not appear to be a standard solution.

My question is: how can I ensure that my document is being output to 'letter'-sized paper. Which parameters of which files affect the choice of paper size: document classes, device drivers, Linux-specific files, others? Which LaTeX packages influence the choice of paper size? Which parameters override other parameters if conflicting paper sizes are specified? Which parameters should be changed to alter the page size on a one-time basis? Which parameters should be changed to alter the default page size?

Answer 1

The best strategy is

1. Choose the paper format you'll be using more frequently at install time (TeX Live allows to choose between Letter paper and A4, and probably also MiKTeX).

2. For the documents where a different paper size is needed, write

   \documentclass[letterpaper]{article} % or whatever
   \usepackage[pass]{geometry}
   

   With this call, geometry will only do the required steps for announcing the desired paper format to the output driver.

The default paper size can be changed, in TeX Live, via tlmgr:

tlmgr paper letter
tlmgr paper a4

(with superuser privileges). The GUI front-ends to tlmgr also offer this command through one of the menus.